Ace Attorney Investigations

All of Case 5. Continue reading for more specific examples.

Gumshoe's Big Damn Heroes moment in I-5, when he runs in yelling how he's sorry he's so late, bringing with him the evidence you so desperately needed. How did he know to look for said evidence? His detective instincts nagged him into doing it. You didn't even have to ask, but thanks to him you could prove how the killer moved the body.

Ace Attorney Investigations has a couple of these; for example, Shih-na grabs Kay and uses her as a body shield and holds a gun to her head... only for the sound of ANOTHER revolver being loaded to be heard and the camera panning back and showing Badd with a gun to Shih-na's back.

Then Lang takes the bullet for Shih-Na, and seems to just shrug it off because he's simply that badass. He then justifies his action, saying that he has a duty to his subordinates, even if they're sociopaths who only joined his organisation so they could act as a mole. All the while grabbing Shih-Na and forcing her into a somewhat compromising position.

At the beginning of the game, an unknown perpetrator holds Edgeworth at gun point and even gives him a warning shot. Edgeworth doesn't even flinch! It's a double awesome given that Edgeworth has some extreme issues with guns, what with spending fifteen years thinking he murdered his father and hearing the sound of the shot in his nightmares.

Edgeworth: No one gets away with committing murder in my office. No one.

From the same case, this line from Edgeworth.

Edgeworth: I believe the proper phrase here is, "you fail."

The game itself is a Crowning Moment of Awesome, the fact that we control Edgeworth, and how he took down the head of an international smuggling ring that interpol agents and the Yatagarasu was pursuing for seven years, in less than 48 hours after learning the existence of said ring.

In Case 5, Lang gets one for creating a Batman Gambit by forcing Franziska herself to be a murder suspect just so they can access THE OFFICE OF AN AMBASSADOR!

Also, Diplomatic Impunity? Well, we can't have that, can we, Ex-Ambassador Alba? The most epic and satisfying sentence ever uttered in video game history: "Your Diplomatic immunity...has just been revoked!"

In the same case, Lang catches Franziska's whip mid-lash!

Speaking of Franzy whipping, Badd dodges her in case 4! He then proceeds to make a joke about having her arrested, which makes her back down. As Edgeworth puts it...

Edgeworth:Detective Badd is really something if he can make Franziska behave...!

In case 5, the big villain is prevented from escaping by previously harmless Nice Guy Ambassador Palaeno, who persuades him to stay for a while so as not to damage the relationship between their countries. Palaeno subsequently announces that it doesn't matter that the victim was a total crook, he was Palaeno's subordinate, and thus Palaeno must fulfill his duty to him.

In the same vein, Larry Butz and Wendy Oldbag, as ridiculous as it may sound. The two pull off a rather dramatic entrance in their Steel Samurai and Pink Princess costumes to prevent Quercus Alba from leaving and both end up giving Edgeworth some crucial information that puts Alba in his place without even knowing it! Oldbag deserves special mention as her clue (a single Samurai Dog box with a spot of blood in it) was so crucial that Edgeworth actually thanks and even bows for her!

Larry Butz played the role as the STEEL SAMURAI in a show that was part of a good-will celebration between two countries, and acted as a good-will ambassador for both countries and the one the embassy is based in as well! That's impressive going.

The end of Case 5 of Investigations:

Edgeworth: Mr. Alba, I'm afraid there is one more question I forgot to ask....

To summarize what Edgeworth accomplished over the course of the game: He solved five murders (seven counting the flashback case, bringing in a corrupt prosecutor, smuggler, a noted businessman and an AMBASSADOR) a kidnapping, two arsons, exposed the true identity of a mysterious vigilante and dismantled an international crime syndicate/smuggling ring/counterfeiting group over the course of THREE DAYS (again, four counting the flashback).

Ace Attorney Investigations 2

The fact that the fan translation not only exists, but was completed.

In Case 3, just about every time Gregory confronts von Karma. But the final time really stands out, after using Logic to find out von Karma has been manipulating the crime scene and forging evidence, he walks up to him and yells HOLD IT while giving him the pointer finger. When von Karma accuses him of disrupting the police investigation, Gregory delivers this line:

Gregory: "Police" ...no. My objection is to you!

The resulting confrontation is nothing short of epic, and for the first time in the case Manfred completely loses his composure. It's clear no-one has ever managed to utterly humiliate von Karma like this, and Gregory makes it even more awesome by being in full Tranquil Fury mode practically the entire time. And while you don't actually get to play the trial itself, from Shields' description it was clearly one huge CMOA for Gregory and cemented his status as a complete and total Badass. Not only did he prove von Karma forges evidence, he was able to present tapes of his interrogations to show the entire court he bullied the defendant into giving a false confession. He managed to get von Karma's (corrupt) replacement detective fired, and Manfred himself only got off with just a penalty because the Chief Prosecutor at the time was just as much of an Amoral Attorney as he was, and actually had a hand in the forgery, so he had to give Manfred some punishment or he'd give himself away.

At the beginning of Case 4, Edgeworth points out to Judge Courtney that she is technically a valid suspect (and in fact a relatively likely one, having visited the crime scene a mere two hours before the victim). Courtney is visibly taken aback and offended by this, making it the first time that Edgeworth has had a chance to take her down a notch.

On a similar note, once Edgeworth starts getting some traction, we get this:

Sebastian: I'm...I'm fine now. I thought that I had to be Number One so that you would accept me, dad. But then, after I got kidnapped by your men and left in that dark storeroom, I realised..."I really am powerless". I became depressed, and tried not to see that...but then...but then, Prosecutor Edgeworth showed me the way. I'm no longer a child chasing after his dad's back. I CAN find evidence on my own now!

Making it even more awesome is that, at this moment, Sebastian replaces his old, goofy Leitmotif for THIS.

A villainous one occurs for the set up of Case 5, Simon manages to encounter fake President Di-Jun by luck whilst in his hot air balloon. Seizing his chance proceeds to crush him under the basket, in spite of the fake being armed with a handgun. He then hides the body and manipulates it so he evades capture for quite some time.

There's also the fact that he was pretty-much behind everything in the entire game. And unlike the Big Bad of the previous game, he's not the head of an international criminal organization or anything, he's pretty much just a clown at the local circus. Not only that, but the fact that he actually appeared before, and yet likely never aroused any suspcion in Edgeworth or the player, is one for both his character and the game itself.

In what is probably the most shocking revelation, after investigating the Orphanage 12 years ago thanks to Kay's Little Thief, Edgeworth gives us this:

Edgeworth: This case wasn't a kidnapping, it was a presidential assassination!

Edgeworth, finally fed up with how corrupt prosecution has become, responds to Courtney's demand that he indict Kay for murder by resigning.

When the final boss is first confronted, he is keeping up a pretty good innocent act, talking about how Edgeworth, Kay and Ray had said they would believe in him and how he's so sad that it was all a lie, complete with sad background music. Kay begins to feel sympathetic for him and suggests to Edgeworth that maybe " Simon's not a bad guy after all." Edgeworth immediately objects, cutting off the sad background music in the process and calls out the villain for such blatant emotional manipulation, a trademark of the villain's style. After confirming that he isn't going to fool Edgeworth again, the villain drops the fašade, transforms and reveals his true nature, all to an epic new villain theme.

Once again, to summarize Edgeworth's accomplishments: He solved seven murders ( Ethan Rooke, Horace Knightley, Isaac Dover, Jill Crane, fake Di-Jun Huang, real Di-Jun Huang, Jack Cameron), one of which was an unsolved cold case), an attempted murder ( Dane Gustavia), four kidnappings ( Kay Faraday, John Marsh, Sebastian Debeste, real Di-Jun Huang) proved a man innocent 18 years after his false conviction, revealed a fake assassination plan, exposed a black market auction, brought down a corrupt prison warden and the former chief prosecutor and prevented an attempt by one of the culprits to escape conviction through underhanded means in court. He did this almost entirely without investigative authority, and much of it without his prosecutor's badge.

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